Osteoporosis-Related Fractures and Rheumatoid Arthritis

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), both men and women, were more prone to osteoporosis-related fractures as compared to general population, according to recent research published in BMC Rheumatology.

“Patients with established disease had par­ticularly high risk of hip fractures, and more focus on fracture prevention in this patient group would likely be beneficial,” the investigators noted.

The researchers collected information on osteoporosis-related fractures (hip, proximal upper arm, distal forearm and vertebral fractures) between July 1997 and December 2017 from 1928 patients with RA. Then they compared the data to matched general healthy population controls. The RA disease duration ranged from less than 1 year to more than 5 years.

“The overall incidence of osteoporosis-related fractures in the RA cohort was 10.6 per 1000 person-years (95% CI),” the authors wrote.

While both men and women with RA had at least one fracture compared to the healthy controls, there was a significant increased risk in hip fractures specifically. Patients with a longer duration of RA were more prone to fractures than patients in the early stages of the disease. Older adults with RA were more at risk than their younger counterparts.

Reference:
Theander L, Jacobsson LT and Turesson C. Osteoporosis-related fractures in men and women with established and early rheumatoid arthritis: Predictors and risk compared with the general population. BMC Rheumatol. 2023:  7(28). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41927-023-00354-7